Oakland Music Festival: Q&A with SZA from The Town Stage

Posted by Angela Tsay on May 10, 2016

This past Saturday we hit Oakland Music Festival for a full day of music, expression, and style. Out of all the dope artists that performed, singer-songwriter SZAdefinitely gave a performance to be remembered.

Behind the scenes at “The Town Stage” (sponsored by Oaklandish), we were lucky enough to sit down and chat with SZA for a quick Q&A that evening:

You have great music and great style, but especially great hair. What are your favorite hair care products?

“Pantene Pro-V for Women of Color, mixed with any sort of hair grease, and then a little bit of water. Literally I live that way. And then Eco Styler is pretty good, and there’s this green gel from the beauty supply store that doesn’t have any alcohol in it. That’s it.”

Who has been your favorite artist to collaborate with in the past year?

“I don’t know, they were all different things. Probably working with Isaiah [Rashad] because we were just vibing, and we’re very similar. Sometimes my nerves are so high with other artists that I’m just like “Do you like me? Do you think I’m dope? Am I being weird?,” so it’s hard just to enjoy it for what it is. But I love all of them, I think they’re all really dope. Toro Y Moi was also a really good f*cking time. We had a good day; we had lunch. It was nice.”

Do you have any hidden talents or interests?

“I knit a lot. I love knitting. Just shapes, just blobs…It’s very cathartic. And [when I’m done] I just throw it to the side and start another one. That’s it.”

How do you decide what to wear when you wake up in the morning?

“Hmm I don’t know. There is a silhouette in my brain I guess, but I think I just don’t know how to verbalize that. But, I chose this [outfit]. I tried on a skirt before the shorts and it didn’t look right. I didn’t know why, it just didn’t. And then, I just love this coat…I “borrowed” it (laughs).”